Tuesday, October 23, 2012

When I decided to get my own apartment, I knew I would have to come up with an idea for a place for my dog to relieve herself when I was at work. I brained stormed a few ideas and everything was either too expensive or my dog wouldn't use it. My top priority was installing a dog door into the sliding door in my bedroom so Sweet Pea could have access to the sun and patio at all times. The poor construction on the apartment made the task harder than it should have been, but with enough weather stripping, I managed to secure the door. To keep to privacy, I hung up a table cloth (double layer wrapping paper works great too).

My first idea was to buy a fake grass rug. That didn't work at all, as you can see this photo:

My second. attempt at a potty patch for Sweet Pea involved sod with cardboard underneath. This came with a lot of problems. First off, hardware stores like Home Depot only have sod available early in the morning. Since I work mostly nights, waking up at 5:45 to get there before 6:30 is a challenge. I did it though and brought the heavy patch home. It was cheap, under $4, which is a plus. I decided to put it on cardboard rather than directly on the cement. I figured my dog would take to it immediately since it was real grass. Wrong. I don't know if the patch was just too small, if it smelled weird, or what. She didn't start using it until it was almost completely dead. The success was that she did use it, but only when it was time to toss it. The sod patch requires watering, which sucks when you don't have a hose. When I removed the sod patch to dispose of it, there was mold growth under the patch. I considered building a framed spot to drop in the sod patches, but that would have required a fair amount of money and time. I decided to ditch the sod idea and go for something else. The sod looked good while it was alive.

Then it dies after a few weeks.

So yesterday, I came up with another idea. My original idea was getting a child's 3 foot wading pool and filling it with mulch (my dog prefers mulch over grass), but in August, I could not find a darn pool. They stop selling them in June or July (which makes no sense). I made another trip to Lowe's and picked up a few supplies. I got a large tarp, 2 large bags of Mulch (they had different colors and even rubber), and Concrobium (kills and prevents mold). I originally purchased something to contain the mulch in, some plastic siding, but figured my dog wouldn't want to step over it to get to the mulch. If it rains regularly where you live, it's important to put siding up to keep your mulch in and create a drainage system. I'm in Southern California, we barely get any so I'm not too worried. Here's what I did.

Step 1: Spray Concrobium on the concrete, where the patch will be going.

Step 2: Cut the tarp to size.

Step 3: Spray Concrobium on top of tarp.

Step 4: Dump on mulch and spread evenly (I only used 1 bag).

The end result should look like this:

It's been less than 48 hours and Pea's used it at least 3 times. I would say I finally figured out a solution to the problem. Total cost: Under $20. I still have an entire bottle of Concrobium left, more than half of the tarp, and a bag of mulch.

This is still in its "testing" stage. If I have any issues or suggestions, I will post an update immediately.

UPDATE 1/18/2013 - It's been a success! She still uses it regularly and loves it. The only drawback is the smell, but if you toss the old Mulch, rinse the tarp well, and replace the mulch, it helps a lot. Only costs a few dollars to do too. I do that every month and a half.